Estimate time and cost to sail from Baltic Sea to Mallorca

[Voyager 5]

The title of this thread was "Sail from Baltic to Mallorca". What's all this talk of lorries?

You're right, the thread was hijacked

 

[Fazil Ergen]

All right, so after a very long number of studies of all the possible routes, here is what I have concluded, what are the best options to take a boat from the Baltic to the Med:

The conclusion applies to take a boat from the Baltic Sea to the Med, not specifically to any part of the Med.

1) European Canal Routes: in general this is a big NO NO NO, first because is not cheap at all (moorings and fuel cost), second managing all the locks is a big pain in the butt, third there are plenty of confusing regulations overlapping each other and room for fines in several countries (especially Germany), plus the depth of the channels is a concern (may be too low somewhere) and taking the mast down is a cost and transporting it is trouble (or a cost if you ship it). Finally the amount of work on the engine gear will certainly reduce your engine life or break it.
With this I do not want to say that if you love to sail through the channels you should not do it, I am just saying that if your purpose is to move the boat fast, cheap and without bureaucracy the channels are not the right path.
I am sure someone will disagree with me.

2) Hire a skipper and sail from Baltic to Med: probably around 3-4000 eur cost plus fuel, food and tickets - expensive and you never know how they treat your boat, unless you are aboard (but then why hire a skipper?)

3) Sail to Germany + truck transport to Adriatic Sea to Koper, Slovenia: this is the best option. Fast, relatively cheap (got a 1800 EUR quote for a return empty load) and quick. Only pain in the ass and additional cost is to take the mast up and down (they asked me 440 EUR+VAT in Slovenia!) which you can do by yourself if you are at least 2 person on board (I will be alone, bummer).
I plan to go down this route but right now I am stuck with a mechanical problem.

4) Sail by yourself from Baltic to Med: good experience, adventure, cheapest route (600 eur a month for marinas if you avoid the peak summer season and the most expensive marinas and maybe sometimes you anchor at sea for the night, weather permitting). Fuel should not cost too much if you do not go by engine all the time, maybe 3-400 eur.
You do not take the mast down, saves time and trouble.
This trip can probably be done in 2.5 months if you stop every night to sleep. If you have a crew member and you keep sailing all the time you can do it in one month and there are no marina costs.
This could be a very good alternative to option #3), but you need the good weather season (March-September), so it is limited by that, while option #3) can be done at ANY time.

5) Sail down to La Rochelle then put boat on a lorry to the Med: this reduces the sailing time versus option #4) and avoids sailing around Spain and to France, however it costs probably 1500-1800 EUR for the lorry, plus mast step/unstep, cranes, so I would then rather use option #3) as the lorry cost is the same and it avoids you to sail from Germany to La Rochelle, you put your boat on a truck in Germany with option #3 and end of the story, much faster, less wear and tear on the boat.

I hope the above can help other fellow sailors that want to bring their boat from the Baltic to the Med.

Hi Voyager 5,
I just discovered these forum discussions today as I am questioning the similar matter. I wonder how you ended up finally.
Kind regards,